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#Maddie2017Challenge: Week 3

I’m behind on this post, because the actual act of traveling can be exhausting! This past week was one of the most amazing weeks of my life. I’ll do a more detailed write-up for my Iceland adventures, but when I left off last Monday, we had done the “Golden Circle” tourist route through Thingvellir National Park, Geysir, and Gullfoss before settling into our campsite at Skógafoss for the night.

The next day, we went to the navy D3 plane crash out in Sólheimasandur. It was kind of a walk, but luckily it was flat and easy. We explored the place, and Stephanie and I wandered out to a black sand beach. Once we were done, we went to the small town of Vik to grab some lunch/dinner, and checked out Reynisfjara, another black sand beach with tons of interesting rock formations. Our campsite for Tuesday night was out in another national park called Vatnajökull, right next to mountains and a glacier.

The next morning was quite possibly the best day of our trip. We woke up early to drive to Jökulsárlón and went on an ice cave tour. We then hung around the glacier lagoon, and walked across (well technically underneath) the bridge and got to yet another black sand beach — this one had chunks of ice from the glacier strewn about, and was the most unreal site. Well, everything in Iceland was honestly unreal. We drove back to our original campsite at Skógafoss for the night.

Our final day in Iceland, we hiked up Skógafoss (yes, that’s right, UP a waterfall), and then went another waterfall called Seljalandfoss. Normally in the summer you are able to walk behind Seljalandfoss, but it was incredibly icy and dangerous while we were there. We drove into Reykjavík and went to the top of Hallgrímskirkja, which afforded amazing views of the tiny, most northerly capital of the world. We went to an amazing dinner at Ostabúðin (literally the best of my ENTIRE life, still dreaming of the cheese plate and Arctic char), and then hit up a couple bars for our final night.

Click through to view some photos from this week!

It makes sense that Icelanders believe in magic, because this whole country is unreal. We still aren’t 100% sure we’re even still on Earth. 🇮🇸

Started out the day with an ice cave tour with literally the greatest human being on Earth (a combination of God/Thor), came to this glacial lagoon, then went across and discovered a black sand beach covered with glacier ice with waves crashing everywhere. Obviously with perfect sunset lighting throughout the whole day. I can’t even believe my life is real right now 🇮🇸

Literally about to cry because it’s my last day in Iceland 🇮🇸😭 but earlier I was crying because I finally got to pet one of these magnificent ponies

I will never be able to get over the beauty of Iceland 🇮🇸 #latergram #fuckafilter #icelanddoesntneedafilter

“But Maddie, will you ever stop posting Iceland pics?” The answer is so clearly 🇮🇸 NO 🇮🇸

We had an early (EARLY) flight on Friday morning. By the time we got to New York City, we were all exhausted and just wanted to be in either Iceland or just already at home. We got some food and then immediately passed out from jet lag at promptly 5:30pm.

Saturday, we went to the American Museum of Natural History to check out some dinosaurs, and that was basically the highlight of the day. It’s crazy to me that we were in New York City, Manhattan, the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps… yet we were struggling to find ways to occupy our time.

We had a late flight home to Texas on Sunday, so we were able to grab some delicious breakfast and then checked out the Museum of Modern Art. I was planning to drive to San Antonio from Austin once we landed that night, even though we didn’t land until almost 11pm, but there was a crazy thunderstorm. I decided to be safe and just stay in Austin for the night — I may not have had Aaron, but at least Sunny was there for me to cuddle!

Woke up Monday and drove back to San Antonio. Unfortunately Aaron was at work, but I came home to some amazing gifts. A necklace and earrings from Kendra Scott, hot cheetos with lime (two bags, my minimum requirement), chips and French onion dip (HEB brand, the best kind), grapes, and a freezer full of my favorite frozen meal snack (I sound gross but they’re really good!). Aaron eventually got home around 6pm and it was amazing to finally see him after so long.

Interrupting the amazing Iceland pics to show what I came home to today 🙌🏻 #keeper #thewavychipsareforfrenchoniondip

I’m enjoying the next few days with Aaron in San Antonio until I have to go back to Austin to work on Thursday. Janee’s birthday is tomorrow, so I’ll be celebrating with her, but other than that, that’s the extent of my plans here!

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Maddie

My name is Maddie, and I'm here to get personal, talk travel, and share photos and stories. I'm a registered nurse, dog mom, and girlfriend to a surgical resident. I also enjoy drinking craft beer and eating like a foodie.
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